Echo
by SeptemberSkies
Summary: In the aftermath of the Battle of Hogwarts Remus Lupin is reunited with his lovely wife. Written for a challenge last Christmas but it was never published, my prompt was 'echo'


All around him was a blackness, deep and vast, carrying on in every direction with no perceivable end. The darkness was heavy and dense, as if even in its continuity it formed a barrier. Remus glanced around warily, turning in a slow circle. The empty darkness remained unbroken. His eyes shifted downward and he took in his body, surprised to see he was completely unscathed. It was strange, it seemed he had been fighting just moments before, thought who and for what cause he couldn't recall. He gazed at his hands; ten fingers, long and thin, stretched out before him, looking no different than they ever had. However, his eyes narrowed. He shouldn't be able to see his hands in this ceaseless dark, they shouldn't be illuminated in a soft and milky glow. His gaze snapped up to the sky above him, which had been nothing but blank space moments before. A perfectly round moon hung amongst a wispy veil of clouds.

Remus's heart began to pound, sharp and heavy within his chest. Every particle of his being seemed to vibrate for a short moment before the shaking became a dull, aching shudder. His chest tightened and his breathing grew shallow as the throbbing escalated. He grit his teeth against the pain; balled his fists tight as he staggered onto all fours. It happened slowly at first, thin black hair smattered itself across his body, growing thicker as his body tensed in an attempt to brace itself against the coming changes. All at once his muscles stretched, tore, twisted and reformed themselves in inhuman ways. Bone lengthened, skin pulled taught against his convulsing frame. His joints strained against the transformation, fighting to remain in their proper orientation. Though his mind was muddled by the pain, the increasing frequency of the nauseating cracking sounds told him the worst was yet to come. Slowly his nails began to lengthen, cutting into his palms as he kept them clenched tight. His jaw popped and began to narrow, the lower half of his face began to elongate and tapper into a short snout. His canines sharpened and fought their way ruthlessly through his gums. He squeezed his eyes shut as his vision began to blur around the edges.

Just as he thought the pain would be too much, his body froze. A soft, cool hand rested between his shoulder blades and he clenched his teeth tighter, willing himself to breathe deeply, to focus, to control the urge that compelled him to sink his teeth deep into the tender flesh of the woman beside him.

Her laugh was a gentle tinkling in his ear, light and melancholy; slowly, miraculously, his tense muscles relaxed. "Remus, there's no reason for that anymore. The moon has no power over you here."

Slender arms looped around him as the changes began to reverse themselves. His snout melted back into his face, his bones restored themselves to the familiar frame of Remus's human form. It was over as suddenly as it had begun, and he remained knelt on hands and knees, breathing deeply as he puzzled over her words and the unbelievable response of his body. The arms that held him shifted so that one hand rested on his head, smoothing his tousled hair.

"Nymphadora?"

Delicate fingers found his ear and tugged gently, "How many times do I have to ask you not to call me that?"

Remus turned to the woman kneeling beside him, "Tonks," he whispered with a small smile. He managed to sit back on his heels and cupped her pixie-like face in his hands. Remus planted a soft kiss on her lips, then glanced distractedly behind her, "Where are we?"

He watched worriedly as Tonks offered a sad smile and placed one of her hands over his. "We're—"

Remus wasn't really listening though, his brow furrowed as he struggled with a half-remembered chase through the Hogwarts castle. They were supposed to be fighting, where were they? Had they hidden to get away from something? "We need to leave," he cut in, "someone could come in here at any moment." He grasped Tonks's hand tightly, "explain what happened while we go."

"Remus, there is nowhere _to_ go." Tonks voiced quietly.

Remus glanced at her, slightly exasperated, "Dora, stop talking in riddles. I must have been hit by a confundus charm, I've no idea what's going on." He furrowed his brow, "except…" a memory was surfacing, "Antonin Dolohov. We must have lost him, but he'll be on our trail again by now. We need to move." That was it, they were fighting a war. Against Voldemort. _Where_ in Merlin's name were they?

It was Tonk's turn to look exasperated, "If you would let me finish I could tell you. We don't need to go anywhere, we aren't fighting anyone, at least, not here."

"Where is 'here'?" Remus asked. He was feeling antsy, they really needed to move before they were found. A cursory glance told him he had never been here before, but if they had apparated it might be a place from Tonks's memory. What had Tonks been hit with to make her so convinced that there wasn't a war? Just moments ago, it seemed, they had been fighting their respective battles. Everyone had been fighting.

Tonks was biting her lip, "I can't say exactly, that is…I'm not entirely sure." Her gaze was locked on the full moon behind him, and Remus thought he saw a hint of disappointment in her eyes.

Deciding to humor her, Remus stopped fidgeting, instead throwing a stream of questions at Tonks, "Where did we go after the battle?" He couldn't specifically remember it ending, but he knew they hadn't defeated Dolohov yet. "How did we get here? Where are the others?"

Tonks' eyelids fluttered closed as a pained expression crossed her face. "They aren't here," she murmured softly, "none of them are."

Remus was taken aback by the hurt on her face. "Dora, it's alright, we'll find a way back. Don't look so defeated," he soothed, rubbing reassuring circles on the hand he still held.

"Remus, we can't go back."

Now Remus was truly perplexed, "What do you mean? Were we captured?" It would explain the strange moon and its inability to force his transformation.

"No," Tonks's pained expression grew stern and resolved, her eyes locked on to Remus's and she held him with her gaze. "Remus, we have passed on."

Remus's eyes grew wide with horror and he gripped his wife's hand, struggling to remain upright on his weak limbs. "No, Dora, we can't be…" but he trailed off as he began to consider it. She had stopped his transformation; he had never known anything to do that. What had she said just moments ago? _'There is no reason for that. The moon has no power over you here'_. He shook his head as if it would help assemble his thoughts more clearly. When he glanced up at the sky there was no longer a full, white disk of light, but a delicate glow whose source seemed to be very far away.

"Passed on," Remus echoed dazedly. And no one else here but Tonks and himself. A crushing weight pressed against his chest. "Teddy is…"

"At home, safe, unaware of his parents' death." Her voice hitched a little at the last word, and Remus wrapped his strong arms around her tiny frame, pulling her close.

"Plenty of people know," she continued, "he will be well taken care of. Harry will be a wonderful godfather."

Remus could have laughed at the coincidence were the fact not so horribly upsetting. The boy who lost his parents to Lord Voldemort as a baby would aid in raising a child whose parents had suffered a similar fate. "Yes, he will," Remus agreed.

Remus didn't know how long they stood in each other's arms, only that he felt strangely calm for such a situation. His heart was heavy with loss and sadness, but it was out of his control. He pressed a kiss into Tonk's short, bubble-gum pink hair, murmuring softly, "Teddy is in good hands, and now, that is all that matters."

The faint glow that had seemed so far off just moments ago now swelled around them. It seemed to focus the strength of it's light in a single point far off in the distance.

"Dora," Remus whispered, "I think it's time to go."

She turned her face to look at Remus and the fearful expression it held melted away to a look so full of trust and love that Remus's heart tightened painfully in his chest. He had no idea what was on the other side of that gentle golden glow, but she was so willing to follow him, to let him lead her to paradise or doom. He turned slowly and pulled her along with him. With one arm hooked tightly around her waist and the other resting lightly on her hip he pressed his lips to hers, for what he desperately hoped was not the last time. "I love you."

After a few moments he released everything but her hand, which he held tightly, and led the way into the endless radiance that surrounded them.

* * *

A/N: Just a little one-shot for a challenge last year that got lost in the editing process, I hope it was to your liking. Please leave a review and tell me how you felt about it. As always, I own nothing.


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